In Between
by Victoria Hughes
Summary: CHAPTER 8 UP. We know almost nothing about the month between Danny's accident and his battle with the Lunch Lady. How did he learn about his transformation? His powers? His desire to be a hero? The start of Phantom's story, designed to fit canon.
1. Act One: What Happened

**In Between**

_Ever since first starting to watch Danny Phantom, I've wanted to write an origin story. There's a month's worth of stories between Memory Blank and Mystery Meat that are waiting to be told; others have written their takes on it, and now I would like to take a stab at it. Please enjoy, everyone: Danny's journey from 'boy with ghost powers' to 'superhero'._

&

**Act One: What Happened**

"_Who knows what kind of cool things are waiting on the other side of that Portal?"_ – Danny Fenton, _Memory Blank_

Danny saw it as an adventure, a journey into the unknown – an astronaut sort of adventure, right here in his own basement.

He should have been looking where he put his hand.

Danny sort of saw it coming, but not really. He pressed his hand against the wall and felt something depress beneath his palm, and then green light was burning his retinas from the focal point at the back of the portal.

Then there was pain.

He never thought anything so dramatic as _This is what it feels like to die_ – he had no time to, as the energy and ectoplasm fried his neurons and tore through him like burning wires. He might have screamed, but he would never know. His friends screamed for him, but he heard nothing except the roaring in his ears.

He thought he ran, staggering back towards the entrance, trying to escape the hurt, but he couldn't feel himself move, could barely see.

Mercifully, he passed out.

&

"Danny?"

Danny groaned softly. His joints ached and he so dizzy, but he felt strangely weightless. Someone was saying his name, but hesitantly, as if they weren't sure they were disturbing him. Probably just his sister checking in on him.

"Danny? Dude, wake up …"

Tucker's voice. What was Tucker doing over at his house at this hour? Usually he was the last one out the door for school …

School! Danny's eyes flew open, and he sat straight up – clonking his head against Tucker's in the process. "Ow!"

"Ow!" Tucker echoed. Both boys jerked away from each other, rubbing their foreheads.

This wasn't Danny's room. Everything came back to him in a rush – the Portal, the _pain_ – Danny looked back and forth between his two friends in horror. "I'm alive!" he exclaimed, and immediately followed that with, "Uh, what the heck happened?"

But neither of his friends replied, both pale and stricken-looking. Sam recoiled slightly when Danny's eyes fell on her. "Danny?" she said with a confused look.

"What?" Danny asked. "Did it work? After that much hurt, the portal had better be work—"

He broke off as he caught sight of his gloves.

When Danny had stepped into the portal, he'd been wearing a black and white jumpsuit. He was still wearing a black and white jumpsuit … but none that his parents owned. His gloves were white now, as were his boots; the rest of his outfit was black, a direct inverse of what he'd worn into the Ghost Portal. "Uh … what happened to my clothes?"

Tucker cleared his throat noisily. "Better question would be what happened to _you_, man," he said softly. "You look … different."

Danny was beginning to feel a slight tremor, as if he was cold – only he wasn't. His hands trembled slightly of their own accord, as if sensing something Danny didn't want to acknowledge. "Different how?" he asked, his voice shaking as well. "How, Tuck?"

"Um …" Tucker broke off, exchanging looks with Sam.

"Different _how?_" Danny howled. But when neither of his best friends answered fast enough, he shoved Tucker aside, practically flying to the emergency sink with a mirror his parents had installed in the basement.

The face that looked back at him was not Danny Fenton's face.

This face possessed white hair, tanned skin, and most disturbingly of all, green eyes – but not natural ones. These glowed, as if the ectoplasm swirling in the Portal he could see in the reflection had found a new home in his irises.

"What happened …?" Danny whispered hoarsely … and for the second time in five minutes, he passed out cold.

&

When Danny woke up again, he _was_ in his bed. A delicate hand brushed the hair – his own, black hair – out of his face, and he looked past it to his mother, flanked by Sam and Tucker.

"Good evening, sweetie," his mom said with a cheerful smile. "Are you feeling all right?"

"I … um …" Danny's voice was hoarse. He cleared his throat. "What happened?" he asked. He'd been asking that a lot today.

"You had an accident in the lab," his mom answered. "Sam and Tucker told me all about it when I got home from running errands. It was sweet of you to try to fix the Ghost Portal for us, but you shouldn't mess with our inventions without one of us around," she admonished gently.

"You scared the bejeezus out of us," Sam said, her voice filled with reproach.

_You were the one that talked me into going in there!_ Danny thought – rather unfairly, he supposed, but he felt hot and sweaty, and so tired. His head spun. "Sorry," was all he could manage.

"It's all right," his mom said gently. "You've got a slight fever and your blood pressure is low, but you're very lucky. Much worse could have happened to you in there! I'm going to fix you some chicken soup, okay?"

Chicken soup was relatively safe, as long as Danny's mom heated it up on the stove and not in the Fenton Microwave. Danny smiled weakly. "Thanks, Mom," he offered, watching her leave before looking down at his hands – plain, pale hands, attached to plain, pale arms under his usual white shirt. He looked back up at his friends.

Sam and Tucker were silent for a long moment, looking like they had no idea how to break some kind of bad news to their friend, so Danny spoke first, asking the burning question on his mind.

"Did I dream all that?"

Sam frowned a little. "All what?"

"Waking up with—like that!" Danny exploded, throwing his arms in the air. "Down in the lab!" He couldn't quite give voice to the image of glowing green eyes …

But Sam slowly shook her head. "No … when you first staggered out of the Portal …"

"You just fell on your face right outside it," Tucker continued for her. "And you looked totally different – like you saw in the mirror." Apparently he too couldn't bring himself to put words to 'it'.

"We dragged you a little ways away and turned you over," Sam added. "We thought you looked like a …"

"A ghost," Tuck finished.

There was a moment of silence, the word hanging between the trio like a black cloud. Danny felt even sicker; he forced himself to speak. "And after I passed out again?"

"This ring of light formed around your waist," Tucker said, gesturing, "And it split, going up and down your body like a Star Trek teleportation light or something. But when they disappeared, you were back to normal."

"And that's when your mom came downstairs," Sam said. She glanced at Tucker. "We figured your mom didn't need to know about the white hair green eyes thing, so we just told her you had an accident in the Ghost Portal."

Danny frowned. "Sam, why _shouldn't_ Mom know about the … the hair and eyes thing? I mean, what if something really bad's happened to me? She'd know what to do; she's been studying ectoplasm and stuff since college!"

"You didn't see her face when she saw you passed out on the ground, man," Tucker said softly. "I mean, you can tell her if you want to …"

Danny could imagine the look on his mom's face; one of stricken horror, the way she'd looked when Jazz had tripped down the porch steps and split open her chin. Only this time, it was her kid, passed out on the floor in front of the Ghost Portal, which was deadly … Danny was sure of it. He felt very lucky to be alive.

"Maybe I'll just wait, give it some time," he said slowly. "If 'it' happens again, though …"

Tucker looked relieved; Sam seemed slightly disapproving, but she hated her parents. Danny liked his – although they were embarrassing and weird and maybe even crazy.

Actually, he'd never really thought they were crazy, but now there might even be proof to the world that they were right all along …

"I think that's a good plan," Tucker said after a beat. "Maybe that was just a fluke, after all."

"Maybe," Danny said doubtfully, although he hoped with his whole being that it was. That all he needed was a good night's sleep and everything would be perfectly normal again. But Tucker and Sam were avoiding his eyes again; there was something they weren't telling him. He opened his mouth to ask when his mom came back into the room, bearing a steaming bowl of apparently normal chicken soup.

"Here you are, honey! Now take it slow all right? Your friends can stay, but no pillow fights." She paused as Danny sat up in bed with the aid of some pillows and took the soup. "I'm going to go down to the lab to look at the Portal before your father comes home. He'll be so excited, Danny." Her smile was intense, reflecting her own excitement. "I'll be back up to check on you in an hour."

"Okay, Mom," Danny said, his tone slightly pressing. It was nice to get mothered sometimes, but with Sam and Tucker in the room some appearances did have to be kept. "Have fun," he added dryly.

"Of course I will, honey. If you're not feeling any better later, I'll call you out sick tomorrow."

A freebie day off? Danny made note to act sick even if he wasn't. "Okay," he said, purposely dampening his enthusiasm. "Bye, Mom," he added pointedly.

"I'm just a holler away!" she called as she sailed back down the stairs.

"A day off? Lucky," Tucker accursed as soon as Mrs. Fenton was out of earshot.

"Danny glared at him. "Yeah, all I had to do was get horribly electrocuted by an invention to get it," he said dryly. "You should try it sometime." Tucker looked duly chastened.

But Sam was unusually silent, and she didn't even scoff at Danny and Tucker's exchange. Her face was schooled to her usual stoic look, but both Tucker and Danny knew her well enough to recognize a mask when they saw one. Danny sighed. "What is it, Sam?"

Immediately the mask dropped. "I was _scared_, stupid," she snapped, scowling. "I thought I – it killed you."

Danny was quiet, cowed; Tucker looked stricken again. "I just passed out," Danny said, "And got … weird-looking for a bit."

"Danny, you didn't have a pulse," Sam's face was stony. "You weren't breathing. You just _laid_ there, totally still. What was I supposed to think!?"

_No pulse. Not breathing._ Every word struck Danny like a blow. He pressed a hand to his chest to assure himself of a beating heart, soup forgotten. "…What happened to me …?" he whispered.

Neither of his friends had an answer for him.

&

_Tbc_

_Act Two, Scene One preview:_

_Danny put his foot down on the first step …_

_And somehow missed it entirely._

_He looked down in a flash and saw his calf sticking out of the first step, but his foot had _disappeared entirely into the stairs _That was all he had time to realize before he was falling, toppling forward face-first into a somersault._


	2. Act Two, Scene One: Intangibility

**Act Two: Glimmers of …**

"_Argh! If my Dad can make something that can turn me into a … a _freak_, then maybe he can invent something that will change me back!" – Danny Fenton, _Mystery Meat

**Scene One: Intangibility**

After finishing his soup, Danny's headache subsided somewhat, but the tiredness permeated his bones. It hurt to move; everything ached. He wouldn't be faking anything after all, he realized; he really did just want to sleep all night and preferably all day.

But of course, as is usually the case when one is completely exhausted but mentally troubled, sleep did not come easily or peacefully. Danny was so haunted by the memory of ectoplasmic eyes that his sleep was fitful, peppered with odd dreams and painful starts that woke him suddenly.

One time he woke up _under_ his bed.

Danny tried to sit up in surprise from one of the weirder dreams (being chased by a white-faced Dash screaming 'Follow the rules!') and whacked his forehead on the underside of his box spring mattress. "Ow!"He rubbed his forehead ruefully, laying there for a moment, before rolling out from under the bed and climbing back between the sweat-dampened sheets. "Ugh," he mumbled. "How did I manage to roll out of bed and _under_ my bed …?"

_Whatever. I just want to sleep without dreaming for once._

He didn't get his wish.

&

He dozed throughout the next day. His sister came in early in the morning before heading to school; Danny pretended to sleep until he heard the door close behind her again. Jazz could be such a royal pain sometimes, and he really didn't want to talk to her about the 'psychological implications' of a lab accident. This whole psychology phase thing was just making her worse than she already was. At least she wasn't playing that brain surgeon game on the family computer any more; it had given Danny more room to install _Doomed II_.

Around two in the afternoon, Danny was finally fed up with tossing and turning in his sweaty sheets. He sat up, rubbing his eyes blearily, and staggered out of his bed, yanking the sheets off after him. Only half-awake, he took the bundle of bedclothes with him to the bathroom, walking through the door and dumping them in the hamper before shedding his shirt, automatically turning to the bathroom door to close it.

It was already closed.

Slightly more awake now, Danny tried to remember opening the door. How could he have opened it with his hands full? With his foot?

"Whatever," he muttered, turning on the shower. He couldn't be bothered right now. Maybe after a shower he'd feel like a human being again, instead of one of the living dead.

The shower did help. Toweling his hair dry, Danny looked at himself in the semi-steamed mirror; he was pale, but otherwise himself, black-haired and blue-eyed. He still felt dizzy and tired, but that may have just been the terrible sleep he'd gotten over the last twenty hours. At least his joints didn't hurt so much any more.

He dressed, tousled his damp hair into something resembling its usual style, and started downstairs to eat breakfast … lunch, maybe? Pondering this absently, Danny put his foot down on the first step …

And somehow missed it entirely.

He looked down in a flash and saw his calf sticking out of the first step, but his foot had _disappeared entirely into the stairs._ That was all he had time to realize before he was falling, toppling forward face-first into a somersault. He shouted in alarm, grasping for the banister and flinging his legs out in front of him. His fingers closed on the rungs of the banister, his feet slowed him, and he came to an abrupt, sprawled halt halfway down the stairs. He clung there, breathing hard and staring down at the foot that had somehow just never touched the step, his heart pounding with adrenaline.

"Oh my gosh, Danny!?" His mother came flying out of the kitchen. "What happened? Are you all right?"

"F-fine, Mom," Danny stammered, pulling himself back to his feet slowly. "I think I just tripped …"

It was the most logical explanation, but Danny didn't think he'd hallucinated his leg falling through the stair-step. But how could he explain that to his mother?

She sighed. "Maybe you shouldn't be out of bed yet."

"I'm fine." Danny proceeded down the steps very carefully, watching his feet for further falling-through-the-floor stunts, but he made it to the bottom without incident. Still shaking slightly from the shock of it, he offered a smile. "I feel way better. Just hungry," he elaborated.

"Well, that's a good sign." His mom pressed the back of her hand to Danny's forehead. "Hmm. You feel cool."

"See, the fever's gone," Danny said brightly.

His mom gave him a considering look. "Danny … you do realize how dangerous that was, trying to fix the Portal on your own, don't you? You could have been killed!" Quite suddenly, she reached out and hugged her son. "Our research is very important to us, Danny, but you are far more precious than any Ghost Portal."

It felt surprising good to hear that. His mom and dad could get quite wrapped up in their obsession, to the point that when he was younger, Danny had been resentful. Now he kind of liked the lack of attention most of the time; it freed him up to do fun things with Sam and Tucker when more involved parents would have been forcing him to do homework or something (not that he didn't usually get it done anyway). Still … no one was around. Danny hugged her back. "Thanks, Mom. I won't try to mess with your inventions when you aren't around any more." He meant that wholly, too; he knew first hand how dangerous what he'd done had been.

"Good." Maddie released him. "Now, what would you like to eat?"

His mom's cooking? No thanks. Maddie was a great inventor but no cook. "I'll just fix a sandwich or something."

"If you want. I'd like to take your temperature, too, just to be safe. Now be truthful, sweetie: does anything hurt? Do you have a headache? Any rashes?"

Danny decided to fudge it a little. "I'm kind of dizzy, but I didn't sleep very well," he admitted. "But I don't hurt. Everything's fine, and no, I don't have any rashes." He stretched in demonstration, rolling his eyes at the last question.

"Well, you let me know if anything starts to bother you. Ecto-radiation can have disastrous effects," Maddie warned. "I'll go get the thermometer."

While his mother was gone, Danny had a few moments of peace again. He fixed himself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and sat down at the table with a cup of orange juice. His feet didn't fall through the floor again – thank goodness. And how had that happened, anyway? Feet didn't fall through floors, and there was nothing wrong with the step; Danny had lived in this house his whole life, he would have known if there was something wrong with a stair. Maybe he _had_ just imagined it.

His mom came back into the room then. "Under your tongue," she instructed as she handed Danny the thermometer, the same way she had always instructed him since he was six. Danny obeyed and waited for the appointed time, drumming his fingers on the tabletop and looking more annoyed than the process precisely warranted.

Finally Maddie stole the thermometer back. "Hmm …" she murmured at the readout. "97.1?"

Danny's normal body temperature had always been low, but not quite that low. "You mean I have a cold?" he joked.

Maddie smiled. "Well, as long as it's not a fever." She went to wash the thermometer in the sink. "We haven't taken your temperature since your physical last year. It might be your new 'normal' – it might be a side effect of the accident. It's hard to say." She shook her head slightly. "Tell me if you notice anything different at all, okay?"

"If I …" Danny started to joke about gaining super powers – wasn't some kind of radiation lab accident how everyone got their powers in the Marvel comics? – but the words stuck in his throat as he thought about his green eyes and the stair incident. "Eh, never mind." He forced a smile. "I will."

But he still couldn't make himself admit to them.

&

After eating Danny felt even better. His mom went back downstairs to study the Portal, but not before inviting Danny to come take a look at what he'd helped start. Danny turned down the offer; he wasn't quite ready to face that thing yet, the memory of yesterday still far too vivid in his mind. He went to go watch some TV instead.

The door opened around three-thirty to admit a slightly harried-looking Jazz, followed immediately by Sam and Tucker. "They followed me home," Jazz said irritably.

Danny grinned at his friends to show he was okay, and both smiled back, obviously relieved. "Can we keep them?" he asked of his sister, clasping his hands in supplication. "Please, Mom, please?"

"Oh, shut up." Jazz rolled her eyes. "I brought your homework with me, if you're interested." Of course she had been the one to collect Danny's homework; Mr. Lancer regarded Jazz as his prize student, and she wasn't even his student any more. "Are you feeling better? Mom told me about the accident. I haven't seen Dad since he got home last night because all he's done is stay downstairs, messing with that Portal. You know, that was incredibly dangerous! The psychological impact of a near-death experience is—"

"Thanks for bringing me my homework, Jazz," Danny said pointedly. "I'll get it later. I want to hang out with my _friends _now, all right?" He ignored her brief protest, getting up from the couch to grab Sam and Tucker. "Come upstairs with me, okay?"

"You seem better," Sam said, voice slightly dry, as soon as Jazz was out of earshot.

"Way better – but a little worse, too," Danny answered. He closed the door to his room behind his friends.

"Worse? What happened?" Tucker wanted to know.

"I fell down the stairs. Well, halfway down the stairs." Danny hesitated. "Guys … my foot _fell_ through the step!"

He waited for the implications of that to sink in, watching as Sam arched an eyebrow, her skeptical look fading into one of surprise, and Tucker's eyes widened.

"What do you mean, fell through the step?" Sam asked.

"Just that. It – it was like my foot just never hit the floor. It just went right through it as if the stairs weren't even there."

"Um … that's _weird_," Tucker announced.

"No duh, Tuck," Sam rolled her eyes. "So … what do you think happened, Danny?"

"I dunno." Danny shrugged helplessly, sitting on his sheet-less bed. He had to get new bedclothes before tonight. "I mean, first the … whole transformation thing, and now this. I think it's all connected to the accident."

"What does one have to do with the other?" Sam asked.

"I don't know! It's just a feeling I have." Danny rubbed the back of his neck. "I think I should give it more time, but Mom was telling me to tell her if I felt different at all. I don't, but I thought of all those comic books where people get weird powers from radiation and stuff, and I just … I dunno."

"You're not getting super powers," Sam snorted.

"Hey, don't be so skeptical," Tucker admonished. "Dude, no matter what happens, we're here for you."

"I know." Danny grinned at Tucker, but his eyes were tired. "I'm just kind of scared of the stairs now."

"But other than that, you're okay?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. Headache's gone, food took care of that. I'm still tired, but I slept like that time right before final exams last year." All three of them had come to school exhausted on final exam day in eighth grade because nerves had made them sleep poorly.

"That sucks," Tucker said with feeling.

Danny yawned as if to illustrate his point. "But the point is, I think I'm going to survive." He smiled at Sam. "Sorry about the scare I gave you."

Sam shook her head. "It was my fault as much as yours," she sighed. "I'm just glad you're okay. At least mostly."

"Alive," Danny offered, and Sam and Tucker nodded. The silence, this time, was comfortable.

&

_I wanted to document the aspects of the series that I'm trying to integrate into each chapter as I go._

_Act One: What Happened_

_--Sam and Tucker were present at the Portal's activation, and Sam actively encouraged Danny to enter the Portal._

_--According to the opening rap, Danny woke up with 'snow white hair and glowing green eyes', so naturally he wakes up this way. However, his parents aren't aware of any permanent changes, so that has to go before his parents find out._

_--Danny's family is aware of the accident occurring._

_--Danny isn't concerned his parents will throw him out on his ear for being different or 'a freak.' _

_Act Two, Scene One: Glimmers of … Intangibility_

_--Jazz is aware of the accident occurring._

_--Danny's parents care about him, but they're much more excited about their ghost work._

_--Danny has the most trouble with intangibility at the start of the show._

_Act Two, Scene Two: Glimmers of … Invisibility: PREVIEW_

_His spoon floated innocently in the air, filled with cereal and milk, but there was nothing visible holding up._

"_Gyah!" Danny startled, and at the same time, the spoon fell into his bowl, even though he hadn't released his grip on it. Panicking, he cried out again when he fell backwards – right through his chair._

_&_

_Thank you so much for reading everyone! Special thanks to all those who reviewed the first chapter: soccergurl1990, Acosta perez jose Ramiro, Sword on Fire, Epona Harper, Henshi-anichan, Linda, YumeTakato, ButterFree, BlueMoonAlto, cordria, and Nonasuki-chan. You all made my week!_

_Reviews adored and appreciated._

_-Vikki_


	3. Act Two, Scene Two: Invisibility

**Act Two: Glimmers of …**

**Scene Two: Invisibility**

Danny did his homework with his friends that night. Tucker helped him with his math homework, and Sam helped Danny read the second act of _Romeo and Juliet_. Now three weeks into his Freshman year at Casper High, Danny was already drowning in his math class, and he'd never been crazy about Shakespeare. Luckily his friends helped make up for his weaknesses. He always did better when he studied with his friends.

The next day Danny felt delightfully _normal._ He slept well, didn't wake up outside of his bed, and didn't fall through the stairs on his way down to breakfast. While Danny wasn't ready to dismiss the odd symptoms of the last day and a half, he felt things were looking up.

In the kitchen he found his parents, poring over lab results while eating cereal. Maddie looked up. "Good morning, sweetie! Feeling better?"

Danny opened his mouth to reply in the affirmative, but his father beat him to it. "Danny!" Jack cheered, jumping up from his chair. "The Fenton Portal is an amazing success! Good work!" He clapped Danny on the back, making his son nearly stumble into the table.

"Oof!" Danny tried to catch his breath, offering a weak smile. "That's great," he managed.

"We've been able to get readings on ectoplasm like none recorded in history," Maddie declared. "I can't wait to send these results off to the Miami Ghost Convention Confederation!"

Danny poured himself some cereal. "Uh, that's awesome," he offered, before spilling his bowl across the counter when Jack slapped his back again.

"And it's all thanks to you, son! How'd you do it?"

Danny gathered his wits and the cereal, dumping the spillage into the trash can before trying again. "I didn't really do anything," he confessed. "I think I just pressed a switch or something."

"The switch inside the Portal," his mom mused. "We should have checked it first." The truth was, they had both been so disappointed to see it had failed that Mr. and Mrs. Fenton had gone upstairs to mope and pore over their blueprints for errors instead of checking the hardware, as they should have – a fact Danny had known.

"No matter; it's working now!" Jack boomed. He beamed at Danny. "Glad to hear you're feeling better."

Danny poured his milk and orange juice and sat down to eat. "Thanks, Dad." It was typical of his father to talk about the inventions before the people, but the whole idea of the Ghost Portal had been Jack's – something he had pursued for over two decades. _I just wish I knew what it's done to me!_

He ate in silence while his parents bickered over something regarding this or that result, his mind drifting to the misery of school that stretched before him. Mr. Lancer would probably dock points for late work, even though he had a legitimate excuse, and every Algebra class he missed spelled imminent disaster. He was so doomed …

His hand disappeared.

His spoon floated innocently in the air, filled with cereal and milk, but there was nothing visible holding up.

"Gyah!" Danny startled, and at the same time, the spoon fell into his bowl, even though he hadn't released his grip on it. Panicking, he cried out again when he fell backwards – right through his chair.

Danny was suddenly brought back to the present when, in the midst of wishing he could disappear, his hand actually ceased to exist.

Jack and Maddie both looked up in alarm to see their son on the floor, having apparently thrown himself out of his chair in fright. "What is it!?" Maddie cried.

"Was it a ghost!?" his father threw in.

Danny blinked up at both of them, uncomprehending for a moment, before jerking his hand up to stare at it. It was back to normal. "Um …" Wow, if he said he'd just seen his hand disappear – no, turn invisible – and his body had just magically passed through his chair, he'd sound nuts. "Yeah, it was a ghost," he stammered. "Just flew right through the kitchen."

"I knew it!" Jack crowed, and Maddie jumped up with him, just as excited. "Ghosts can come through the Portal! Maddie, we've got to install a door! I'm going to go find that ghost!" Jack pounded out of the kitchen.

Maddie started to run out after him. "Honey, don't forget the Fenton Bazooka!" Then she poked her head back into the kitchen. "You're all right, Danny?"

"I-I think so," Danny answered, picking himself up slowly as he relaxed from the scare. His parents hadn't seen a thing – something Danny wasn't sure was a good thing or not. If they saw, then maybe they could figure out what was wrong with him. If they didn't see, then Danny just sounded like he was crazy. "Just startled. I've never seen a ghost before."

"Neither have we!" his mother laughed. "Now hurry up and eat your cereal; don't be late for school!" She rushed off.

Danny glanced at the kitchen clock and realized suddenly that he was running late. "Yikes!" Strange incident forgotten, he charged up the stairs to collect his books, looking disturbingly like his father chasing the imaginary ghost.

&

On his way to school (on the ridiculously overcrowded bus – usually he walked, but when he was running late it was a different story), crammed next to Tucker (who was almost always running late), he remembered to tell his best friend since forever about this new incident. "It just keeps getting weirder," he confessed. "I'm sorta freaking out here."

"I'll bet you are," Tucker sympathized. "But you've gotta admit, it's kinda cool. You turned _invisible_, man!"

"Just my arm," Danny protested, "and on accident! What if that happens at school – or if I fall down the stairs again? Everyone'll laugh at me," he sighed.

"We won't," Tucker answered honestly. "Well, I might a little, but you know."

Danny smiled weakly. "Yeah." He and Tucker got laughs off each other on a regular basis, both intentional and unintentional, but most of their actual fights and hurt feelings were fleeting. "As long as Paulina doesn't see …"

"Yeah …" Tucker and Danny both zoned out in a cloud of hormones as they thought about the hottest girl in school, and remained mostly that way until they arrived at their daily prison.

Danny, unlike his sister, was never enthusiastic about school. He had been in elementary school, but who wasn't? Back then, homework was counting oranges. Now math had _letters_ in it: obviously, it was meant to be a living hell. Every summer he was sorry to see the lazy days go.

Fortunately for Danny, he shared most of his periods with both Sam and Tucker, and his locker was near Tucker's as well. Sam met them at Danny's locker, looking unusually concerned but just as made up as ever in full Goth regalia. "Morning, boys. Let's see: smells like bus. Running late?"

"Slept in," Tucker explained.

"Parents," Danny sighed, getting an understanding nod from Sam. "They're thrilled about the Portal. I still haven't looked at it."

"It's not that exciting," Tucker snorted. "A bunch of green swirling stuff, that's all."

"Ectoplasm," Danny corrected absently. "Swirling ectoplasm. That's all the Ghost Zone is, practically." Or so his parents had been saying for years.

"Then it does lead to the Ghost Zone." Sam leaned against the lockers. "You doing okay, Danny? Anything weird happen?"

"He can turn invisible!" Tucker blurted before Danny could talk.

"Thank you, Tucker." Danny rolled his eyes. "And my arm disappeared this morning at breakfast, it was totally an accident, and then I fell through my chair. So this weird stuff isn't just gonna go away." He sounded as disappointed as he felt.

"Oh, it's too early to say that," Sam scoffed, but she sounded worried. "Who knows what'll happen in the next few weeks?"

"Oh, let's see …" Danny began sarcastically.

"He could die of ectoplasm poisoning," Tucker said with characteristic bluntness.

"Tucker!" Sam and Danny cried as one, both cringing. "I'm not gonna die," Danny added firmly. _At least I hope not …_

"He's gonna be _fine,_" Sam stressed. She turned to Danny. "Look, the worst case scenario, the weird symptoms stay. So what? It makes you unique. Unique is good."

"Says the only Goth in the whole school," Danny smirked. Sam had fallen in love with the clothing style just about two years ago, and the trend had yet to die off. Her parents, whom Danny and Tucker had never seen much less met, were supposedly furious, which suited Sam just fine. Danny, for one, couldn't imagine living with his parents constantly angry at him.

"I'm not the only Goth, and so what if I was? Unique is good," Sam said again.

"If you say so," Danny sighed. He didn't want to be unique; he wanted to be _popular._ Then maybe he would have a chance with Paulina Sanchez, the hottest – and thus most popular – girl in the whole school, at least in the freshman class.

Speaking of which …

There she was, walking down the hallway, deep in conversation with Star and Valerie about the latest fashion trend. Her perfect black hair flowed down her back in perfect waves, setting off her perfect sea-green eyes perfectly, and her t-shirt and leggings fit her perfect body with clingy perfection.

Danny went into another hormone-induced trance, which meant that he didn't hear what Sam said next. And then his view was blocked – by the very large, very imposing torso of Dash Baxter.

Dash was a walking first for Casper High: the star quarterback of the varsity football team, and only in his freshman year. He looked the part; his parents had already bought him a letter jacket, and he was an imposing five feet eleven inches, with wide shoulders and huge muscles.

Danny was intimately familiar with the muscles part.

"Hey, _Fentina,_ time for your daily wailing!" The bigger boy sneered, slamming one fist into an open palm.

Danny looked up with horror. This was nothing particularly _new_; it had started in fourth grade, really, but Dash hadn't been huge back then. He'd hit his growth spurt in eighth grade, and it had all been downhill for Danny from there, because for reasons that had once been incomprehensible but were now all too glaring, Danny was his favorite target.

He'd once wondered what horrible offense he'd committed to deserve this, but in the end it had come down to this: his parents were nutcases who believed in ghosts, and Danny was in pathetic physical shape. What wasn't to hit?

"Leave him alone, Dash," Sam snapped. Tucker was amazingly quiet – a self-preservation thing.

"Or what, you'll bore me to death with bad poetry?" Dash smirked. His gaze went back to Danny. "Hmm, your locker looks kinda empty today. Let's fill it up – with you!"

Danny had enough time to yelp before Dash was hauling him up by the shirt and shoving him face-first into his own locker. The door of the locker slammed shut behind him, and there was raucous laughter, followed directly by the late bell ringing. Danny groaned aloud, not so much hurt as humiliated; he was pretty sure he'd heard Paulina's laugh right there with the others.

"Oh, Danny." That was Sam's voice. "At least that'll teach you to not listen to me. You okay?"

"Other than my spirit being totally crushed? Yeah," Danny grumbled. Sam had already memorized his locker combination for such emergencies as this. "Lancer's gonna kill me."

"Us," Sam corrected. "Tucker's already covering for us, though." Which did explain why there wasn't any goofy commentary on the current situation.

"Well, there's that." Danny fidgeted, trying to lift one leg; if he only had a bit more space to move around in …

He felt an odd tingle in his back, and then he was falling backwards. "Gyah!" He fell to the floor, sprawled on his back, and staring up at Sam, who blinked down at him with wide eyes.

His locker door was still closed. "Great," Danny groaned, picking himself up with agonizing slowness. "Did you see that?"

"You falling _through_ your locker door? Yeah." Sam offered a hand to help him to his feet. "You okay?"

"Other than the fact that what just happened isn't even humanly possible!? Yeah, I'm _fine,_" Danny snapped. "This is _weird!_ It's freaking me out!"

"Hey, at least it's useful," Sam smirked slightly. Danny gave her a withering glare, and her smirk faded. "Danny …"

"Yeah, yeah," Danny grumbled back, sighing. "I just wish I'd never stepped inside that Portal." He stomped off towards class, Sam following in his wake.

He never noticed the look on Sam's face at his words.

&

Danny was lucky enough to sit at the back of the class in Algebra. He hated getting called on for questions, and unless the teacher was feeling particularly vicious, he only called on students in the first three rows. Unfortunately, however, today was one of the days that he was feeling more malicious; Tucker warned him at lunch.

He hunched in his seat and wished he was somewhere else.

The teacher scanned the classroom as the last of the students trickled in. "... seems everyone is here except … Mr. Fenton. Hm. Has anyone seen him today?"

Danny sat up suddenly in his chair. Being present was awful, but if his parents heard he cut class it would be worse. "Here," he called.

The teacher looked bewildered, and looked right at Danny. Then his eyes scanned elsewhere, still searching.

Danny's eyes widened, and he glanced down at himself. He knew he was sitting, but there was nothing in his chair. He was well and truly _invisible._ _Nonono, I've got to be here, turn visible, turn visible!_ With an imaginary pop, His body reappeared beneath him.

"Ah, Mr. Fenton, there you are. I didn't see you … somehow …" the teacher looked confused for a moment, but then he dismissed the occurrence out of hand and started the lesson.

Danny slumped in his seat again, his heart racing. _Well, that wasn't completely random,_ he realized. _I didn't want to be here, so I kind of … wasn't._ It was slightly heartening to know that there was a reason for his random disappearances, but they shouldn't have been happening at all!

"And the answer is … Mr. Fenton?"

Danny lifted his head, cheeks burning. He didn't even know what question they were on. "I … I dunno …"

"Please, Mr. Fenton … if you're going to be present, at least try to put forth a little effort to listen," the teacher said dryly before moving on to another hapless student.

Danny buried his head in his arms. Who could concentrate on Algebra at a time like this?

&

_And the cataloging continues:_

_--Danny was doing a reasonable job at school when he had his accident, so he wasn't skipping class and was trying hard._

_--Dash loves picking on Danny in particular._

_--Danny's parents have never seen a ghost._

_--Jack knows, according to the teaser, that ghosts can come through the portal even though he's never seen one do so._

_--Danny hates math, and is bad at it._

_It's my personal canon that the Fentons made the Bazooka (which creates mini-Ghost Portals) before they finished the permanent Portal. There's no evidence to prove it._

_Sorry, no preview for you today. Thank you to all who reviewed: StormDragonGirl, YumeTakato, Baka Hanyou Rahvin, Nonasuki-chan, Sweeteen19, Acosta perez jose Ramiro, Epona Harper, Sword on Fire, DandNsGirl, Linda, Henshi-anichan, Phillip Clark, and cordria. Thank you, everyone, you rock my socks!_

_Reviews loved and appreciated._


	4. Act Two, Scene Three: Transformation

**Act Two: Glimmers of …**

**Scene Three: Transformation**

A week later, things still weren't looking up for Danny. "I'm telling my parents."

Sam cast Danny a doubtful look as they trudged down the street. She glanced at Tucker on Danny's other side, who shrugged slightly. "Dude, if you want to," Tucker offered.

Danny threw his hands in the air. "I turned invisible in English this time, and I've dropped six beakers in science! Everyone thinks I'm the biggest klutz in the world … you should have seen the way the teacher looked at me. I'm gonna be the biggest freak in school if I don't do something!"

"So … you're going to tell your ghost-hunting parents that you're starting to turn invisible and intangible?" Sam raised an eyebrow.

Danny crammed his hands deep into his pockets with a foul look. "Look, my parents love me, no matter what. I'll bet they could invent something that would make me normal again."

"On the other hand," Tucker offered with a raised finger, "if you can turn invisible _and_ intangible, you could totally go peek in the girl's locker—"

"Tucker!" Sam reached past Danny's face to smack Tucker upside the head. "This is serious! Danny, maybe you should just relax. You said you had some control over it, right?"

"Not much," Danny grumbled, but he knew Sam was somewhat correct; he'd told them that he had become invisible when he wanted to escape being in class. "It happens every time I don't— wah!"

Danny's foot sunk into the pavement, and he tripped, landing face-first on the sidewalk with a pained shout. Sam and Tucker both startled, glancing at each other, and ran to Danny's side. "Dude, you okay?" "Danny!"

"Ugh …" Sam and Tucker both grabbed Danny's arms and hauled him back to his feet. Danny rubbed his abused nose. "See!? What's good about these weird things happening to me!?"

Sam and Tucker were silent, exchanging looks again, but they couldn't think of anything to say. Tucker changed the subject instead. "Hey, let's go to the Nasty Burger."

Sam snorted. "Yep. Nothing like greasy meat to take your mind off things."

Danny smiled weakly at them both. "Sounds good," he agreed.

&

"And of course, the goon brigade is here," Sam sighed as they entered their favorite burger joint. Sure enough, Dash, Kwan, and a couple of other football jocks were all walking to the only remaining booth in the fast food joint. The Nasty Burger was the most popular after school hangout for the Casper High students: the menu was packed from end to end with greasy, utterly non-nutritional, and cheap food – and that packed the restaurant from end to end with teenagers every weekday from three to five PM.

"I'll save us a seat!" Tucker volunteered. "You know what I like, Danny!" And with that, he flew across the Nasty Burger to slip into the booth before Dash and company could. Danny watched with trepidation, groaning. _Didn't he see the jocks?_

"Hey!" Dash halted as Tucker sprawled on the booth seat. "You trying to pick a fight, Foley? We had this seat!"

"Finders keepers?" Tucker smiled sheepishly.

Danny watched the exchange before smacking his face into his palm. "Is there anything Tucker won't do for a free Mighty Meaty Burger?" he asked.

Sam sighed. "Probably not. Look, I'll spot you both for now. You'd better rescue Tuck. We can eat outside or something."

"Thanks, Sam." Danny escaped the line just as Dash was hauling Tucker up by his shirt.

"Now get out of our seat, techno-geek!"

Tucker cringed, opening his mouth to respond, but Danny beat him to it.

"Come on, Tuck, we're eating outside." Danny jerked his thumb towards the exit. He should have stopped there, but he couldn't resist a jibe. "You wouldn't want to make the king of the jocks walk any further, would you? Might strain his overgrown muscles."

"Oh, look who's come to the party!" Dash sneered, flushing slightly from the insult. He put Tuck down and smacked one fist into his palm. "Fen-toad, meet my muscles!"

Bravado exhausted, Danny cringed just as badly as Tuck had. _Me and my big mouth!_ Tucker shouted something, but no one was paying attention any more; the jocks moved in for the kill, surrounding Danny. Dash reached to grab Danny by the shirt, the better to assure that Danny wouldn't get away – but his fingers slipped right through the fabric. "What the--?"

Danny jerked back, startled, and thudded against Kwan's chest. "Yeek!" Unlike Dash, he knew what had happened – his shirt had been intangible when Dash reached for it. _If I disappear in front of these guys, my social life will be OVER! … who am I kidding, it never began …_ Danny took a deep breath and let it out slowly, fear giving way to frustration as Kwan gripped his shoulders. _If this isn't the stupidest reason to get beat up, I dunno what is! What difference does it make if everyone thinks I'm a freak? Thanks to my parents, everyone already thinks that! _He was shoved back towards Dash viciously, and he stumbled.

"Time to meet your maker!" Dash sneered, and Danny lifted his head, scowling at Dash.

"Go ahead, Dash, beat me up," he challenged, making a fist at his side. "It really makes you a man, beating the crap out of me, doesn't it!?"

But Dash was staring at him, eyes wide. "Woah, Fenton … what are you, some kinda freak?"

"I'm a freak, huh!? Just because my parents believe in ghosts!?" The confusion and frustration of the past week came flying out of Danny now. "What's so great about hitting a guy who's half your size? And you've still gotta have your friends to back you up! That's pathetic!"

He didn't notice that the other three jocks were backing up slightly as he screeched at Dash. "So go ahead! Hit me! Prove what a _man_ you are!"

"What is going on here!?" The jocks began to back away as the manager of the Nasty Burger approached, hands on his hips – and then Sam was grabbing Danny's arm, pulling him back.

"Danny, let's go. Come on."

"No," Danny snarled. "I don't need you to save me!" But Sam ignored him, and then Tucker was on his other arm, pulling him back as well.

"Come on, Danny! Let's go!"

They hauled him out the back door of the Nasty Burger not a moment too soon, Danny struggling against them the whole way.

"I'll show that jerk who's the freak around here--!"

A ring of light flew out of his waistline, and Sam and Tucker both scattered, falling back in shock. Danny jerked in surprise as well as the ring split, traveling up and down his body, revealing the black and white jumpsuit Danny had emerged from the Fenton Portal in.

White hair fell into his vision as the rings faded away, and Danny straightened, staring at his white-gloved hands.

"Oh …" he whispered.

"Danny …" Sam breathed.

"Not again!" Danny grasped his bangs, tugging on them so he could see the snow white locks. "Not again!"

"Danny, calm down!" Sam shouted, moving her hands in a placating motion. "Take a deep breath!"

"How can I calm down!? Why is my hair white!?" Danny grasped Sam's shoulders, not noticing when she gave an involuntary shudder. "What about my eyes? Are they … are they—"

"Glowing bright green?" Tucker asked, looking a touch green himself. "Yep."

"Aargh!" Danny pressed his hands against his face. "How did this happen to me?" he asked plaintively. "What am I? What's wrong with me …?" _Why did I ever step inside that Portal?_ Danny wished desperately for a way to turn back time and undo this disaster.

But Sam was looking over her shoulder at the door they had just come through. "Now isn't the time for an existential crisis!" She cried. "Idiot goons at 12 o'clock!"

Tucker visibly gathered his wits even as Danny lifted his head in surprise. "This way!" He grabbed Danny's hand, shivering slightly, and pulled him around the back of the Nasty Burger, towards the garbage dumps. Sam was right behind them as they pressed up against the backside of a dumpster.

Danny took huge, gulping breaths, trying to calm down even as he heard the back door bang open and Dash's voice. "All right, Fenton, now you're really gonna get it!"

"Did he get in trouble with the management?" Tucker asked Sam.

"I'm guessing," Sam whispered.

"He can't see me like this!" Danny panted.

"We know," Sam assured him, even as Tucker added, "But he's already seen your eyes! How can the hair hurt?"

"My eyes were glowing while I was in there!?" Danny cried, his voice rising hysterically on the last word. Tucker and Sam both slapped their hands over his mouth.

"I know you're out here, Fenton!" Dash sneered, his voice closer.

Danny had a flash of inspiration. "Mms, mun," he whispered into their hands. Both Sam and Tucker looked at him quizzically, and he pushed their hands away. "Guys, run!" And with that, he squeezed his eyes shut. _I don't wanna be here, I don't wanna be here, I don't wanna be here!_

He heard Sam and Tucker gasp, and he glanced down: his body (his weird, black-suited body) had disappeared. "Run," he whispered again, and held his breath.

Sam and Tucker looked at him, then each other. Then they snuck off in the opposite direction from Dash's voice.

It wasn't a second too soon. Dash rounded the dumpster, coming within a few feet of Danny and looking around suspiciously. Danny clenched his fists and hoped nothing went wrong.

Dash looked straight at Danny – and then he looked away. He couldn't see Danny at all!

A wave of relief swept through Danny, and then an abrupt wave of mischief. Dash couldn't see him … he could do anything to Dash and he would have no idea who was doing it! _Oh, that is SO wrong_, he told himself, and then: _But it's just payback. It's not like Dash doesn't deserve it!_

Dash scratched his head with a quizzical, classically dumb jock look on his face. "Could've sworn I heard Fenton back here …" He shrugged, and started for the Nasty Burger again.

Danny craned his neck to watch him go, his chance for payback going with him, and sighed. Well, it was all for the best, probably … with his luck, he'd probably have turned visible in the middle of it.

And he was still white-haired and green-eyed.

Danny scrubbed his face with his hands again as he turned visible. "How did I do this? How do I go back?" he mumbled, turning to look for his friends.

They were already running towards him, eyes wide. "Hey," Danny greeted them wearily. "Any idea how I go back to normal from this?"

"Uh …" Tucker pointed down. "Danny?"

Danny looked down.

His legs were gone, replaced with a misty gray tail from the waist down. "AAAH! My legs!" _I want my legs back!_

His legs reappeared, and Danny gasped with relief, planting his feet firmly on the ground and grasping his chest to calm himself down. "What was that!?"

Both Sam and Tucker shook their heads mutely. "Okay, the turning invisible thing is cool, but that? That was not cool," Tucker supplied.

"No, really," Danny said sarcastically. He slowly relaxed. "Um …" There was an awkward silence, and Danny noticed something else in it. "… I can't feel my heartbeat."

Sam raised her eyebrows. "Let me see." She pressed her hand to his chest, only to jerk it away. "You're cold!"

"Your hands are cold, too," Tucker added. He made a slight face. "I noticed earlier."

Danny looked at his friends, distressed. "It's like …" he trailed off, unwilling to give voice to what he was thinking.

"Like what?" Sam prompted, her face perfectly straight in an obvious attempt to keep her cool.

Danny rubbed the back of his neck. "It's like I'm a ghost."

The words hung between the three of them. Sam was the one to break the silence. "You don't know that," she protested. "No one's ever seen a ghost."

"My parents are ghost hunters, Sam!" Danny threw up his hands. "I've been told about them for years! Cold spots, invisible, they can pass through walls – they're _dead_, so of course they don't have heartbeats!" He wrapped his arms around himself. "You don't think I died in the Fenton Portal, do you?"

"Dude, you are _not_ dead," Tucker scoffed. "You had a heartbeat five minutes ago, right? You've just got a cool transformation sequence now!" He smiled, trying to lighten the mood.

Danny half-smiled. "This isn't a superhero show."

"Just sayin'," Tucker shrugged. "Look, you went back to normal the first time this happened, so you can do it again. How do you do anything with your powers? You keep saying you just think about it and it happens, so maybe you can just think about going back to normal."

"But it happens even when I'm _not_ thinking about it," Danny pointed out.

"Maybe you should just try," Sam suggested.

Danny closed his eyes. "Okay." _I want to be back to normal. Black hair, blue eyes, a _heartbeat …

He opened his eyes just in time to see a right of light jet out from his waist and separate; a moment later, he was just plain old Danny Fenton again. He brushed his black bangs down in front of his eyes with a sigh of relief. "Whew! Glad that's over."

"Told you it'd work!" Tucker grinned.

Danny grinned back. "Yeah. Thanks, Tuck." He rubbed his stomach. "I kinda lost my appetite."

"Me too," Sam confessed.

"I didn't!" Tucker volunteered, earning him two glares. "… but I could settle for some snacks at home. Wanna go play Doomed? You know, to take Danny's mind off things." He smiled.

Danny and Sam exchanged glances and smiles. "After that? Yeah, I could go for something completely different," Danny agreed.

But nothing could take his mind off the transformation.

&

_Meanwhile, in another state …_

Vlad Masters raised his fists in triumph as the new Plasmius Portal opened for the first time. "Brilliant! I knew Maddie's designs would work!" After all, he had stolen them from right under that bumbling idiot Jack's nose.

Vlad, silver-haired and slim, was a billionare and the owner of Vlad, Co. He had risen to fame and fortune after a long and unfortunate bout with an illness that had left him bedridden and virtually disfigured for years – but now, twenty years later, he was handsome, fit, rich, and deeply, deeply obsessed.

"Maddie, you will be mine," he murmured.

_Tbc_

_Cataloguing:_

_--Didn't mention this before, but Valerie was part of the popular crowd before her fall from grace, hence her hanging out with Paulina. –Shades of Gray_

_--Danny's intangibility issues are apparently making him drop beakers in Biology class, as Mr. Lancer notes: "38 dropped beakers in the last month …" –Mystery Meat_

_--Danny doesn't know that he can turn other people invisible or intangible at the beginning of the series, which is why he doesn't turn Sam and Tuck invisible when Dash comes after them. –Mystery Meat_

_--Danny's eyes glow green when he's angry. –Multiple episodes, notably Splitting Images_

_--Vlad's reason for sending ghosts to the Fentons is to kill Jack. –Bitter Reunions_

_Fanon (things I made up):_

_--We don't know when Vlad's portal was first opened._

_--We don't know anything about Danny's state of being as a ghost: nothing is stated in canon about his natural body temperature, his heartbeat, or his breathing._

_--We don't know how Danny triggers transformation or any of his powers, so I'm hypothesizing he wishes for it, more or less._

_Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter: phantomphriend, Mak-Magic, soccergurl1990, Nonasuki-chan, Rakahn, phoenix wanderer, Storm Dragon Girl, Me-against-the-world, Epona Harper, Baka Hanyou Rahvin, Bluemoonalto, YumeTakato, cordria, Sweeteen19, Henshi-anichan, HiddenAuthor, lightanddarklove, and Sword on Fire. You guys all rock – you rock out loud! I'm shocked by the response I've gotten to this fic, so thank you!_

_We're already about halfway through – maybe even a bit further. Look out, everyone – it's gonna be a fun ride!_


	5. Act Two, Scene Four: Ghost Sense

**Act Two: Glimmers of …**

**Scene Four: Ghost Sense**

"All right, two more hours, and it's done," Maddie said confidently, flipping the hood of her hazmat suit off her head.

"It's done!?" exclaimed Jack.

Maddie tried to protest, but Jack Fenton was not to be stopped. He bounded over to the Ghost Portal and its newly installed doors. "Fantastic! Ooh, let me try them!" He pressed the installed button next to the Portal, and the black-and-yellow-striped doors slid open to reveal the swirling ectoplasm beyond.

Jack and Maddie were thrilled with the working Ghost Portal, although it presented an interesting problem. They had expected that the dimensional portal would allow them to peer directly into the Ghost Zone, but the Zone was made primarily of ectoplasm – which was, apparently, green. And largely opaque. It acted like a fog on the border between the human world and the ghost world, preventing anyone from looking into the Ghost Zone. Maddie had expressed a theory that it did the same on the other side.

However, the problem hadn't stopped the Fentons. Danny's ghost sighting two days after the Portal had opened had confirmed their fears (and hopes): ghosts could travel through the Portal and into the human world. It only made sense that humans would be able to travel into the Ghost Zone as well; they were already making blueprints for a speeder that would survive the conditions of the Zone. They had samples and samples of ectoplasm for examination and study.

Now all they needed was a ghost.

The doors were designed to ensure that a ghost wouldn't be able to escape the Ghost Zone unless either Jack or Maddie were prepared; that is, the doors were not to be opened unless one of them were in the room.

"Jack," Maddie sighed, pushing her hand under Jack's large one to press the button again. The doors shut. "Well, it seems to be working all right …"

"Maybe we should leave it open, just for tonight. Just in case a ghost wanders by and decides to come in!" Jack was desperately eager to see his first ghost.

Maddie was too, but it wasn't wise. "Now, Jack, we should wait until tomorrow at least. It's late. Let's go get some rest." She smiled at Jack and kissed him on the cheek; he may have been overeager and a little bit of an idiot, but she was _his_ idiot.

"Oh, all right," Jack grumbled, persuaded by her kiss. "I just can't wait …"

"Neither can I," Maddie enthused as they started up the stairs.

They came into the kitchen for Jack's midnight snack and stumbled upon Danny. "Isn't there anything in here that doesn't bite?" he was grumbling as he rummaged in the fridge.

"Danny! It's a school night! You should be in bed," Maddie pointed out with motherly concern. Since 'the accident', Danny had become more nervous – a natural reaction to such a shock, she supposed, but he'd fallen down the stairs twice and kept dropping drinking glasses. She was considering having him see a doctor for possible nerve damage.

Danny yelped at the sound of Maddie's voice, and he thumped his head on the ceiling of the fridge. "Ow!" He turned around, holding a jar of mayonnaise and looking uncertain. "… hi, Mom, Dad." He waved a little.

"Look at him, Maddie! Getting a midnight snack just like his old man!" Jack lumbered past Maddie and slapped Danny across the shoulders. "Is there any more ham?"

Maddie put her hands on her hips. "Well?" she asked bemusedly. After all, Danny was a growing boy; he was probably hungry all the time.

Danny looked sheepish. "I was just finishing a homework assignment," he explained. "I got hungry."

Maddie shook her head, turning to go to her room. "Well, go to bed as soon as you're done, honey. You've got to be up early tomorrow."

"I know, Mom," Danny groaned, knowing all too well. "Night."

"Goodnight, Danny. See you upstairs, Jack!" Maddie started for the bedroom as Jack put together a ham-mayonnaise-lettuce-tomato-turkey-bread sandwich, and Danny watched her go with a look of regret.

&

The truth was, the slight scare had startled Danny right out of his appetite. He went to his room and shut the door behind himself, sighing.

He _had_ been finishing his math homework, but the reason he'd been working on it so late was that he'd been over at Tucker's house with Sam. Danny was up to 22 dropped beakers, and he had fallen through his bed – and the bedroom floor – to the kitchen twice in his sleep; additionally, his right arm had become invisible in the middle of an English test, startling him so much he had been forced to flee to the bathroom and spend five minutes trying to make it come back. Lancer had accused him of cheating, and he'd spent lunch with Mr. Lancer trying – and barely succeeding – to prove that there was nothing in the bathroom for him to cheat off of.

The regular biology teacher hated Danny already. If Danny spilled one more sample on the floor, he knew he was going to be seeing Lancer in his Vice Principal office.

Danny was severely torn. On the one hand, he really wanted to tell his parents about his problems. They loved him; they would accept him! _But what if they don't?_ he couldn't help wondering. They were desperate to see a ghost, and now that the Ghost Portal had been opened, he knew his father especially was eagerly awaiting his first sighting. It was nearly all he talked about.

So in the end, it was his inadvertent transformation into a white-haired, green-eyed, non-breathing and heartbeat-less _thing_ last week that stalled him. That … that _part_ of him seemed to be a ghost. What other explanation was there? And with that thought in mind, he couldn't help but be scared that his parents would be so eager to see a ghost that they wouldn't necessarily care it was their son.

On the other hand, he knew they loved him. If he told his mom and dad, there was a chance they could figure out how to reverse the problem. He felt terrible about hiding things from them as well; it would be a huge weight off his mind if he just explained.

He couldn't bring himself to do it anyway. It didn't help that Tucker still thought his powers were cool – and they kind of were, when they weren't doing things he wasn't expecting, which was most of the time. And Sam thought that they made him unique and cool. She also didn't approve of telling parents anything they didn't directly need to know; she was rebellious to the core.

So Danny had been over at Tucker's with his friends, practicing keeping himself completely tangible; they'd surrounded him with pillows and handed him books and glasses and other things to hold.

It had been relatively successful until he started getting distracted. As soon as Danny's mind wandered, his grip on tangibility would slip, and he would drop whatever he was holding – not every time, but often enough.

Danny packed up his books once he was in his room before changing into his pajamas. He started for his bed, but hesitated before he got there; wandering over to the window, he propped his elbows on the windowsill and stared up at the stars.

Danny knew all the constellations. It was a long-harbored dream of his to become an astronaut. He wanted to go on space walks; he wanted to know what it was like to feel weightless and look down and see the curve of the earth. He wanted to blast off in a rocket at speeds unimaginable.

_There's no way the astronaut program could accept someone who can't even hold a stupid test tube, _Danny thought to himself with a sigh. Not to mention he'd have to bring his math grades up.

Suddenly Danny felt as if he'd been hit with a blast of cold air. It was as if his insides had suddenly turned to ice; he shivered, and a blast of misty air came from his mouth as he exhaled. "What the--!?" Danny wrapped his arms around himself, looking around for what had caused this. Was the air conditioning broken?

A head popped up from the floor.

"Aaaaugh!" Danny threw himself backwards in horror, pressing himself against the far wall as a rotund, _blue_ head stuck itself through his bedroom floor. It was very much alive; the red eyes looked around the room curiously, and then the head began to rise, revealing a rotund, equally blue body wearing coveralls and a t-shirt.

_Oh my gosh, it's a ghost,_ Danny thought in horror. _It's a ghost, it's a ghost, it's a GHOST!_ His chest heaved, and he didn't dare move. The ghost floated in front of him, completely unthreatening except that it was _there._

The ghost's eyes swiveled to Danny, and Danny froze.

"BEWARE!" cried the ghost in an echoing voice, lifting its arms and wiggling its fingers. "FOR I AM THE BOX GHOST, MASTER OF ALL THINGS CARDBOARD AND SQUARE!"

Danny stared.

"Danny, keep it down!" Jazz thumped on the wall separating their bedrooms. "I'm trying to sleep!"

The voice seemed to startle the self-entitled Box Ghost, who jerked away from the offending wall. "… I am off to find my cubical minions! BEWARE!" it warned once more before suddenly phasing through the wall next to Danny and flying off through the night air.

Danny stayed where he was, still shocked. A ghost. He had actually, truly seen a _ghost_. His parents had been right all along; they were real. Granted … it was apparently in search of _boxes, _but it was still a ghost!

And what had that been, just before the ghost appeared? Danny wondered if ghosts really did create cold spots, because he certainly had felt _that._ His breath had come out in a mist as if it was below freezing in his room!

"Danny!" The door to his room thudded open, and Danny startled again.

"Augh!"

Maddie and Jack stood in the doorway, looking remarkably threatening in their pajamas. "We heard you scream!" Maddie exclaimed.

"Where's the ghost!?" Jack wanted to know.

Danny pointed wide-eyed out his window.

"It ran away again!?" Jack looked disappointed. "Aww … we were so close …"

"Jack," Maddie said, straightening, "how did it get in? The Ghost Portal door was closed."

Danny's parents stared at each other, then pounded away to go downstairs. Danny slowly relaxed as they went, his heartbeat gradually slowing. So his parents had finished installing the door on the Ghost Portal? He started for his bedroom door, wavering between chasing his parents downstairs to see this door and just going to bed. As the adrenaline wore off, Danny felt as if he could have slept for a million years.

His sister stuck her head out through her door, her hair in disarray and her eyes half-closed. "Danny, what were you doing in there?" she asked blearily.

Danny blinked at her. "Oh, uh … nothing," he said slowly. "A ghost—"

Jazz waved her arm. "Don't," she said flatly. "Don't encourage them, okay?" She rubbed her eyes. "Night, Danny." She closed her door.

Danny closed his bedroom door as well. "Encourage who with what?" he asked the ceiling.

The ceiling didn't answer, and Danny decided that was just a good thing.

&

The Fenton Portal's door was wide open, even though Maddie distinctly remembered closing it. "Huh," she said thoughtfully. "That's weird. The door must be defective."

"Maybe ghosts can open it from the other side!" Jack suggested.

"Well, we don't know enough about it to know," Maddie mused. She rubbed her chin. "I'll work on it in the morning."

"And we need another ghost containment device," Jack said forcefully. Maddie looked up at him with curiosity. "One that's easy to carry around."

"Well, if the ghosts are escaping the house, you're probably right," Maddie agreed. "Hmm …"

"Something like …" Jack mused, "… a thermos."

&

_Ende act Two_

_Canon:_

_--Danny knows that his 'ghost sense' indicates a ghost coming his way. (Mystery Meat)_

_--There is a door installed on the Fenton Portal, but it opens on its own when a ghost comes in. (Mystery Meat)_

_--The Fenton Thermos that doesn't work was invented before the beginning of the series. (Mystery Meat)_

_--Danny's dream is to be an astronaut. (several episodes, notably Mystery Meat)_

_--When Danny doesn't have ghost powers – or doesn't know how to use them – ghosts scare the crud out of him. (Memory Blank)_

_--Sam doesn't think Danny should tell his parents about his ghost powers. Tucker thinks Danny's powers are cool. (Mystery Meat)_

_Sorry there wasn't much action in this chapter. Good news: Next chapter should be action! Specifically: ectopusses._

_Thanks again for all the reviews: Celestial Maiden Sukira, Bluemoonalto, phoenix wanderer, phantomphriend, Nonasuki-chan, Linda, Shimegami-chan, YumeTakato, Acosta perez jose Ramiro, Horselvr4ever123, Henshi-anichan, Epona Harper, Mako-Magic, Sword on Fire, and cordria! You are all wonderful! It's such a delight to have so much encouragement for this fic._


	6. Act Two, Scene Five: Flight

**Act Two: Glimmers of …**

**Scene Five: Flight**

"Oh, come on, is that the worst you can throw at me!?"

Vlad Plasmius folded his arms over his chest and laughed. He had long suspected he was a massively powerful (half) ghost, but never to this degree. His first forays into the Ghost Zone had provided him with no opponents too strong for him to handle, and as he explored further and further from his own portal, he had yet to be defeated.

Until two weeks ago, upon the completion of his own Plasmius Ghost Portal, Vlad had been unable to enter the Ghost Zone. Oh, he'd found ways to practice with his developing powers over the last 20 years, and he had quite a few at his disposal, but he had only rarely seen any other ghosts – with the exception of one _interesting _fellow calling himself Skulker.

"The Ghost Zone's Greatest Hunter, hmm?" Vlad had demanded, smirking as he dangled the tiny ghost from his fingers; his suit, a smoking wreck, dissolved slowly in the corrosive 'ground' of the Ghost Zone.

"I have the pelts of all the rarest ghosts on my wall!" Skulker had shrieked, his voice high-pitched and hardly intimidating. "And new grounds have just opened up! I demand you release me!"

"New grounds? What do you mean?" Vlad asked, honestly curious. Had Skulker perhaps heard of the Plasmius Ghost Portal and thought to go hunting in the human world?

"Someone has opened up a portal to the human world – a permanent one." Skulker sulked, folding his arms across his chest. "One of the smaller fish I threw away seems to have escaped through it."

Plasmius laughed. "That would be _me_, my small ectoplasmic specimen, and if you should ever decide to come through my Portal you will meet an end more unfortunate than this one. No one has come through my Portal."

"Then I guess we're not talking about the same one, are we?" Skulker snapped sourly.

Vlad considered this. It was possible, he supposed, that the designs he had stolen from his wonderful Madeline and modified had actually _worked._ If anyone could correct the mistakes of that bumbling fool Jack, it was her.

"Where is this Portal?" Vlad had demanded.

That had been three days ago. Now he dusted off his hands and looked at his latest handiwork. These ectoplasmic octopuses were mostly mindless and pathetically weak, but maybe Vlad could put them to use.

&

"Danny, do you really think this is a good idea!?" Sam shouted up at him.

"Not really!" Danny shouted back, looking down.

It was a fifteen foot drop he was facing – not enough to kill him, but enough to break his legs if he messed this up. The grass in the park was soft, but not that soft. It was nearly his curfew, though, so Danny didn't have much more time to get up his nerve.

"Tucker, if he hurts himself, I am totally blaming this all on you," Sam informed the other boy.

Tucker was crossing his fingers and, he claimed, his toes. "He's going to be fine," he said, looking up at Danny anxiously.

This _was_ sort of Tucker's fault, but Danny figured that if anything went wrong it was really his own fault. After all, he'd agreed to this. He tugged nervously at the neckline of his jumpsuit and looked around the abandoned park.

"Okay," he said, "I'm jumping! Please don't die," he mumbled to himself.

He jumped.

&

The reason this was Tucker's fault was because he was the first one to suggest that maybe Danny could fly.

Danny had come back to school the day after seeing the self-named 'Box Ghost' and related his experience with it. Sam and Tucker had listened sympathetically.

"So it's obsessed with … boxes," Sam had put in when he was done. "When there are so many other, better things to be obsessed with – protecting the environment, stopping crime …"

"I don't think ghosts have the same priorities as humans," Danny pointed out, picking absently at the Wednesday's Mystery Meat. "If _you_ become a ghost I guess we know what you'll be doing, though." He smiled wanly.

"And you say it just floated through the wall and left?" Tucker asked. "Cool, so it can fly!" He nudged Danny with his elbow. "I'll bet _you_ can fly."

"Come off it, Tuck!" Danny protested, but he couldn't help thinking about it. "… you really think so?"

"Sure, why not? You can walk through walls and disappear and stuff, right? Why couldn't you fly, too?" Tucker made a sound like a cannon going off, moving his hand through the air like an airplane. "It's a bird, it's a plane! No, it's _Danny the Phantom!_"

Sam rolled her eyes and glanced at her watch. "Oh geez, I gotta go." She packed up her bag lunch.

"Your 'secret project'?" Tucker asked, making quotes in the air. Sam had been leaving early from lunch period for a few weeks now.

"Yep. It should be over soon, though," Sam promised. "I'll bet you'll _love_ it, Tucker."

"Unless it's a super-advanced PDA from the twenty-second century, I don't really care." Tucker half-lidded his eyes.

"Whatever. See you in class." Sam threw her backpack over her shoulder and waved goodbye, leaving the cafeteria.

Danny pushed his tray away; Mystery Meat wasn't appetizing at the best of times, and Danny was far from having a good day. Dash had given him an atomic wedgie that morning and Danny still hadn't fully recovered, and biology class was next – the class where no matter how hard he tried, he could _not_ keep himself tangible enough to handle the beakers. "… It would be pretty cool to fly," Danny admitted.

"I'll bet you five bucks you can." Tucker scraped his tray clean of mystery gravy.

"Doubt it," Danny sighed. It would be too good to be true.

"Can't hurt to try, dude, is all I'm sayin'."

"Sure it can. If I can't fly, I go _splat_," Danny shot back, slapping his palms together for emphasis.

"Dude, Danny, I'm not saying jump off a building!" Tucker laughed. "Just, like, jump off the statue in Amity Park or something. And if you can't, I owe you five bucks."

Danny rubbed the back of his head. "… No bet," he said, imagining leaping off that statue and just taking off into the sky. It wasn't _that_ tall, so if he fell it wouldn't be too bad; and heck, he had been floating for a second back behind the Nasty Burger, so maybe … just maybe …

&

But standing on top of the statue of the Mayor (portrayed as much taller than he really was), he had to revise his opinion. Landing would _hurt._ "So just … don't … land," he mumbled to himself.

He took a deep breath, squeezed his eyes shut, and jumped.

It really _felt_ like he was falling for a moment, but falling the way it felt in a dream – no wind rushing past his face, just weightlessness. Danny kept himself braced for impact for a long moment before Sam shouted, "Danny! Ohmigosh you're _floating!_"

Danny cracked open one eye and took a quick glance down. The ground was still a good ten feet below him. Sam was waving her arms, grinning from ear to ear; Tucker was peeking through his fingers. "Dude!" Tucker cried as soon as he realized Danny wasn't in the process of breaking his ankles on the ground.

Danny laughed helplessly, a thrill going through him as he realized he really was floating. "Guys! Guys, I can _totally fly!_" He waved his arms ecstatically. "This is awesome! This is the coolest thing ever! This is—waugh!"

His enthusiasm was cut short when he abruptly dropped five feet towards the ground. Danny clenched his fists and willed himself to stay afloat and he stopped with his feet a foot from the grass. "… and wow that was close." He carefully, carefully put his white-booted feet down and drew a deep breath. "Phew!"

"Danny, that was _awesome,_" Sam enthused. "Still think all this ghost stuff is bad?"

"I knew you could do it, man!" Tucker punched Danny lightly in the shoulder. "Do it again!"

Adrenaline coursing through him, Danny felt as if he could fly straight into space at the moment. He grinned at Tucker. "Betcha five bucks I can fly back to the top of the statue."

"No bet," Tucker shot back.

Danny looked down at his feet, then up at the statue. _If I can float in place, there's no reason I can't fly in a direction. _He picked up his feet – first one, then the other, as if he was stepping on a stairway made of air. "Guys, this is so awesome," he enthused, floating a few inches off the ground.

"You gonna fly up there or what?" Tucker encouraged him. Danny nodded and took another deep breath. _How does Superman do it? Do I just – put my arms forward or something …?_ He lifted his fists and pointed them at the statue – and floated there, looking stupid. "How does this work?" Danny asked aloud helplessly, windmilling his legs as if they would help propel him forward through the air.

Sam and Tucker looked at each other, and shrugged at him.

The Box Ghost had just floated forward. It almost didn't look like flying, like that was how he just moved all the time, his short, stubby legs no longer any good for walking. But maybe it was just like everything else with these freaky powers – if he wanted it to happen (and sometimes when he didn't want it to happen – well, all the time when he didn't want it to happen), then it happened. He just had to think about it. So he did – hard.

Abruptly Danny rocketed off the ground and at the statue's head. "Waaah—Omph!" In less than a second, he went facefirst into the back of the Mayor's brass head.

Dizzy and disoriented, Danny grabbed the brass casting of the cowboy hat and clung to the statue's face for dear life. "Ugh … th-that didn't go so well …" Danny groaned.

"Hey, at least you flew," Tucker pointed out.

"You okay?" Sam asked.

"Ahaha …" Danny laughed woozily as he slid down the statue to cling to its feet.

_To be continued_

_Continuing the Chronicles of Canon:_

_--Vlad seems to have been working with Skulker since before the series began, but Skulker is not immediately aware that Vlad is a half-ghost (One of a Kind, Bitter Reunions)_

_--Danny seems to be aware he can fly at the beginning of the series (Mystery Meat)_

_--Danny has some measure of control over his transformations (Mystery Meat)_

_--Sam is responsible for the Ultra-Recyclo-Vegetarian menu at school in Mystery Meat – her 'secret project' in this chapter._

_Okay, NEXT chapter will have ectopusses. And then the story will be nearly done!_


	7. Act Three, Scene One: How

**Act Three: Mission**

"_I think I finally know what these ghost powers are for." --Danny Fenton, _Mystery Meat

**Scene One: How**

"_Mister _Fenton, I do believe you know why you are here."

Danny sat awkwardly in the hard-backed school chair positioned directly in front of Mr. Lancer's Vice Principal desk, his shoulders hunched, and wished he wasn't there – a wish he promptly took back in case his ghost powers took him seriously and he went invisible. Mr. Lancer sat behind the desk, a somewhat impressive wooden affair built just tall enough to intimidate the unfortunate sitting in front of it, with his hands folded on it; he wore the bored expression of a teacher tired of dealing with the sea of hormones that made up the school he helped run. "Mr. Feeney wanted me to speak to you. He tells me you have dropped and broken _thirty-four _glass beakers in class since the end of September, despite repeated warnings to handle them carefully. He can't decide if you're just incredibly clumsy or if you find this somehow _funny_."

From his tone, Danny was positive Mr. Lancer was more inclined to believe the latter than the former. He cringed a little and looked at the floor, but no defense readily came to mind. _I'm sorry, Mr. Lancer, it's just that since the accident I've been having a hard time not going intangible during biology class. Yeah … can't see that going over too well._

In retrospect, Danny supposed he should have come up with a game plan with Sam and Tucker for exactly this kind of thing happening. He knew – had known – he was starting to annoy his teachers and especially Mr. Lancer with his unintended tardiness and clumsiness and everything else, and he should have had a cover story. But Danny hadn't expected Mr. Lancer to jump him during lunch, and all the sympathetic looks in the world from Sam and Tucker wouldn't save him.

"I hope you realize that destruction of school property is punishable by suspension, Mr. Fenton," Mr. Lancer continued, causing Danny to jerk his head up to meet Lancer's eyes. "Do you understand me?"

"Yeah, but—I _swear_ I'm not doing it on purpose," Danny exclaimed, flinging his arms out. "I just – I … um." He trailed off helplessly.

Mr. Lancer half-lidded his eyes. "Mm-hmm. Mr. Fenton, I want you to know that I think you have a lot of potential. If you are even half as smart as your older sister—" Danny couldn't help rolling his eyes at the predictable mention of Jazz, Mr. Lancer's Dream Student—"you'll go far in life. But juvenile pranks and behavior only end in failure, and you would do well to remember that."

Danny slumped into his seat again and crossed his arms, mostly annoyed by the predictable lecture. Every teacher had to say every student would 'go far in life' – if they said their students were going to fail out of high school and be hobos or something, they'd probably get sued.

Mr. Lancer studied a manila folder with the name 'Daniel Fenton' printed on its side. "Since you are generally a good student, although I wonder with you if I am beginning to use the term too loosely …" Danny stifled a groan. Lancer ignored him. "I am not going to punish you. However, from this moment on you are banned – for life – from handling any delicate equipment around the school. Any further incidents and I will reconsider the whole punishment thing."

All considered, Danny was getting off very lightly. If Mr. Lancer was ordering him to _not _handle the beakers in science class, his lab partner, Mikey, couldn't very well complain that he wasn't doing his share of the work. Danny failed to see the downside of this. "Um, yes, sir, Mr. Lancer," Danny said, blinking.

The bell rang to signal the end of lunch, saving Danny from further lectures on the future path of his life. "You may go, Mr. Fenton."

Danny was gone before the word 'go' was out of Mr. Lancer's mouth.

&

"So I basically got off scot-free," Danny explained as he, Sam, and Tucker trooped up the front steps of FentonWorks.

"That doesn't seem very Lancer-like," Sam observed, hands on her hips.

"He's probably just warming up for something else," Tucker thought aloud.

Danny shrugged, opening the front door of his home. "Well, it's not like I need Mr. Lancer coming down on me on top of everything e—"

"DANNY!"

"—Else," Danny groaned. He stepped inside with Tucker and Sam right behind him to see his father fiddling with what might have once been a vacuum cleaner. Its parts covered the entire floor of the living room. "Hi, Dad."

"And you brought your friends, too!" Jack Fenton sprang to his feet with alacrity belied by his huge size, took two long steps to Danny's side, and slung an arm around Danny's shoulders. "Perfect! Let's all go to the lab!"

"Um, Dad, Tucker and Sam are here to do homework with me," Danny protested. He left out the part where they were going to play video games and maybe possibly go see a movie if they finished their homework early enough.

"Awww … just five minutes, Danny, I promise! You've hardly been down to the lab since we got the Ghost Portal running." Jack pouted.

"Since _I _got the Ghost Portal running," Danny muttered under his breath, but he felt bad. Jazz sometimes said their father was like a big child (well, she said that he had never left his Third Stage Development or something) and sometimes, she was right. And Dad was right too; Danny still felt as if his muscles were cramping when he looked at the Fenton Ghost Portal the few times he had gone downstairs.

Danny looked back at his friends with an apologetic face. Tucker shook his head frantically; Sam sighed and crossed her arms. "All right, five minutes," Danny sighed.

&

"So, Danny, you and your little friends want to hunt ghosts," Danny's father started, walking up to the three chairs he'd set up in a row in the middle of the lab. Danny exchanged looks with Sam and Tucker; Sam glanced back at the closed doors of the Ghost Portal once, then faced forward and looked unimpressed. Tucker put his PDA away with a sigh of loss.

It wasn't so much that Jack was trying to push Danny to become a ghost hunter as just that he was incredibly enthusiastic about the whole venture and certain everyone else would love it too. But Danny still felt inclined to hesitantly remind his father, "Actually, Dad, I-I want to be an astronaut."

Sam crossed her arms, apparently disinterested. "Sorry, Mr. Fenton, I _was _into ghosts, but they're so mainstream now." Danny remembered when Sam had brought books about ghosts to school all the time, shortly after they'd met. "They're like cell phones."

Danny raised his eyebrows. _Cell phones?_ He mouthed to Sam. Sam shrugged as Tucker took up his protest: "Waste these good looks and all this charisma on hunting _ghosts?_ Criminal."

It took Danny a moment to realize exactly what was going on with his friends; he was so used to these periodic 'hunting ghosts is the greatest career ever!' talks that it hadn't even really occurred to him to think about it. _Sam and Tucker haven't ever seen a ghost … except _me. _They're thinking about this as if Dad were talking about hunting _me! Would his parents actually hunt him if they found out he was a ghost? That was a definite 'no', but it put the whole conversation into a whole different context.

"Well, if you _do_ want to hunt ghosts, there's a few things you need to learn," his father continued, oblivious to any objections. He turned away and started messing with a row of beakers filled with samples of ectoplasm from the Ghost Zone.

Suddenly Danny felt as if he'd been plunged into a bath of ice water. His breath came out in a rush of steam. Remembering immediately how this had happened when the Box Ghost had passed through his room, he shuddered slightly and looked back towards the Ghost Portal, not noticing if Sam or Tucker or his father were reacting the same way. "Oh no … this isn't good …"

The doors of the Ghost Portal opened all on their own before Danny's eyes, and out came two large green floating octopuses. They roared.

Danny jumped in his seat. Sam and Tucker both froze, their mouths dropping open and their eyes going wide just before the octopi flung out their tentacles, wrapping Sam and Tucker in them and yanking them bodily out of their seats.

Danny leaped to his feet and ran two steps towards his dad, who somehow had not heard the octopi roar. "True, I've never seen a ghost, but when I do I'll be prepared," his father continued, not turning around. "And so will you, whether you wanna be or not!"

Danny stared at his father, panic rising in his throat and choking him, and glanced back at his friends struggling with the ghostly tentacles of the monsters. _Prepared … I guess I _am_ prepared …_

After all, he was kind of like a ghost. He could fly high enough to punch those two ghosts in the face, at least, which nobody else in the room could do. And with his ability to go intangible they couldn't hit him or grab him back. And his dad wasn't paying attention and Danny didn't even have time to think about this any more, he just wanted to save his friends--!

A ring of light jetted out from his waist and passed over him, and when they were gone he was a ghost. _Thank goodness I practiced flying, _Danny thought, leaping towards the two octopuses.

Both of them immediately attacked with their tentacles. Danny instinctively phased right through them, avoiding being hit, and kept flying right at the face of the closer octopus, the one holding Sam and Tucker. He body-checked it right between its glowing red eyes with his shoulder and the ghost fell back, flying across the room. It lost its grip on Tucker and Sam, and they both practically fell back into their chairs. Danny had just enough time to confirm they were okay before a tentacle from the other monster wrapped around his waist and hurled him against the wall. Danny was stunned by the blow, but maybe because he was woozy he phased right through the tentacle holding him. When he recovered, he shoved off the wall with his boot out and kicked the octopus, throwing it against the opposite wall.

The other octopus had recovered, though, and Danny turned around just in time to punch it away. He turned back to the stunned monster and kicked it into the wall again, then grabbed it by a gooey green tentacle and flung it back towards the Fenton Ghost Portal. The first ghost slapped him across the face with a tentacle; Danny grabbed the offending appendage and used it to swing the ghost first into the wall, then to follow its fellow.

The two monsters floated woozily in front of the Portal for a moment before squealing and making good their escape. The Fenton Ghost Portal door closed behind them. Danny glared after them, almost not noticing when he transformed back into a human. _And stay out!_ He thought viciously, breathing hard.

Danny had no idea how it was possible, but when he came back to himself he realized his father was still blathering on about ghosts, having never noticed that two ghosts had just done battle with his ghostly son _right behind his back._ In a scramble to not give anything away, Danny leapt back towards the chairs and leaned against Tucker's, trying to catch his breath.

"And that?" his dad continued. "That is the Fenton Ghost Portal. It releases ghosts into our world whether I want it to or not! And someday, I'll figure out how that works too." He tapped the steel caution-painted door lovingly. "So! Who wants to hunt some ghosts?"

Sam and Tucker were still trembling with reaction in their seats. Danny was still winded from the battle. Jack Fenton took all this in and then completely misinterpreted it. "Look at you! You're so excited you can't speak! So I'll just go right on speaking." And so he did, launching into a completely unrelated tale about his childhood, the kind that went 'I had to walk uphill to school in the snow! Both ways!'

Danny slowly caught his breath and his friends slowly stopped shaking as Jack provided inadvertent familiarity therapy through his long, rambling, pointless story about living in a log cabin. But even as Danny completely tuned out his father and returned to his seat, he found himself wondering. _Why did I do that? Why didn't I shout to my dad for help? Why did I fight those ghosts all by myself? _And with a small smile: _and I _won!

"Danny," Tuck muttered after a few minutes. "Ghosts are scary." He was still clutching his seat with a pale-knuckled grip.

Sam was holding a large white and green thermos, something Danny remembered his father tinkering with at the kitchen table. "But Danny, you were – you were pretty cool." Sam offered a tremulous smile.

"It's not like I could have let those things take you," Danny pointed out.

But all the same, he kind of thought what he'd done was pretty cool, too.

To be continued

Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, especially My Aibou. You have no idea how much I look up to you and your writing skills; I hope everyone is living up to your expectations.

_Canon Chronicles:_

_--Danny is banned for life from handling anything fragile at school. (Mystery Meat)_

_--'34 dropped beakers in the last month' is also lifted directly from Mystery Meat._

_--The third scene of this chapter is lifted pretty much word for word from the teaser of Mystery Meat._

_Next chapter: the first steps towards being not a boy with ghost powers, but a superhero._


	8. Act Three, Scene Two: Who

**Act Three, Scene Two: Who**

"Okay, so, uh, what is this thing?" Danny asked, hefting the Fenton Thermos. Knowing his father he'd probably blathered about the thermos too, but Danny had been a little too busy fighting two ghosts to listen.

"Your dad says it's just a thermos with the word 'Fenton' in front of it," Tucker answered.

"It's supposed to capture ghosts, but he says it doesn't work. I don't know how he knows that if he's never _seen_ a ghost," Sam scoffed.

Danny did not point out that his friends had never seen a ghost until, well, just a couple of hours before. He put the Thermos back down on the kitchen table and took another bite of pizza, using his fingers to catch the gooey cheese dripping off the end. "If it did work, that sure would help," Danny sighed.

"Huh? Help with what?" Tucker asked, licking his fingers clean.

Danny shrugged. "Well, if ghosts are just able to walk – er, float – out of the Portal like that, what if they get far away? Like the Box Ghost? Then you could just capture it, store it and … uh, throw it back in the Ghost Zone? How the heck is this thing supposed to work, anyway?" Danny picked up the Thermos again, opening the lid and peering inside to its segmented interior.

"Let me see it," Tucker answered, beckoning. Danny handed it to him.

Sam had a thoughtful look on her face. Danny rested his chin in his hand and smiled, his eyes half-lidded. "What're you thinking, Sam? Last time I saw that face we ended up running a 'Save the Rainforests' rally in a downpour."

"Hey, that rainstorm came out of _nowhere_," Sam retorted. "Anyway, I was just … you know, thinking. What do you—" Sam cut off, looking at the door to the basement lab, then out to the empty living room. She leaned in close. "What do you want to do with your ghost powers, Danny?"

"Do with them?" Danny asked, raising his eyebrows. "Try just _controlling _them! I don't know if you noticed, Sam, but I couldn't take notes in English class today because my writing hand was _intangible_ for most of it." He crossed his arms, still sour over that; he'd spent most of the evening copying Sam's notes.

"But look what you did tonight!" Sam protested. "You totally took out two ghosts all by yourself! You saved me and Tucker!"

"And it's nice of you to treat me to pizza for it." Danny grinned. "… It was kind of cool. But …"

"But what?" Tucker asked, looking up from the Fenton Thermos. "Dude, tell me this isn't _just_ like a comic book. You could be a _superhero._ How is that not the coolest thing ever?"

Danny sucked in a breath and let it out through his teeth, lifting a hand to run it back through his hair. It was all well and good to think about having powers and saving the world, but as a real possibility, it overwhelmed him. "I dunno. I mean, yeah, being a superhero, that's an _awesome_ idea! But I just …"

Sam touched Danny's arm. "Danny, being a hero just means doing the right thing." Danny looked up at her; she smiled encouragingly. "Saving Tucker and me today … that _was_ being a hero. And you just didn't do it to _be_ a hero, you just did it because you were there and no one else could do what you did. Right?"

"Well," Danny started, thinking of his father. His dad could be oblivious, but surely he could have fought off the ghosts just as well as Danny had. But could his dad punch a ghost in the face? Turn intangible? Fly? "… I guess so." Danny rubbed the back of his neck and offered a small, nervous smile. "I couldn't let something bad happen to you guys."

"See? You're already on the right track," Sam grinned.

"So now all you need is a superhero name," Tucker announced.

"Woah woah woah, I didn't say—"

Tucker wore a smug smile. "Dude, you've already got a cool transformation sequence. You've _gotta _have a name ready for when the public adoration starts rolling in."

"_Tucker_," Danny warned.

"Never fear, I've already got one for you," Tucker continued, either oblivious to Danny's protests or having entirely too much fun teasing him. "The Phantom!"

Danny sighed, giving up. He eyed his slice of pizza, which had gone lukewarm, and resumed eating. "Taken. You can't just lift a name from a comic book! I'll probably get sued or something."

"Spectral Man? Well, that should be Spectral Boy, but that sounds like a sidekick."

"Uh, no."

"Plasmodius?"

"That sounds like a villain." Danny rolled his eyes. "I like the first one the best, but I can't just steal a name from – wait. How about _Danny_ Phantom?"

"Don't you think people will notice the similarity? Danny _Fenton, _Danny _Phantom _… it's a little obvious," Sam pointed out, ever the pragmatic one.

"And that's why it's totally genius!" Tucker interjected. "Nice one, Danny! I mean, if you're keeping a secret identity, who would suspect the guy whose name sounds almost exactly the same? It's _too _obvious!"

"Right." Sam's voice was laced with sarcasm, but she brightened almost immediately. "Still, it does sound pretty cool."

Danny polished off his slice of pizza and licked pizza sauce off his thumb, spreading his math homework back out now that he was finished eating. "And you know what would be even cooler? _Not _getting grounded for failing Algebra. Tucker, can I borrow your PDA to finish this? My dad used my graphing calculator in that vacuum thing he's got all over the living room."

Tucker handed it over with a sigh. "Man, why does schoolwork always have to get in the way of anything fun?"

&

But as if punishing Danny for thinking about embracing his powers, he slept worse than he had any night since the accident. That night Danny woke up while falling through his bedroom floor three times, then slept through his alarm clock. He ran out the door in time to see the bus driving away up the street, crammed so full of students they were practically hanging out the windows.

"Aw, come on!" Danny groaned, throwing up his hands. He trudged back towards his house to face down the worst option ever: asking his sister for a ride.

Jasmine Fenton had her own car. It was compact. It was purple-pink. It had a bumper sticker reading 'Have you hugged your inner child today?' on it. In other words, it was a car no self-respecting man – or teenage boy – ever wanted to be associated with. Faced with no other options, Danny would succumb.

"Can I have a ride to school, Jazz?" Danny asked, sounding unenthusiastic. "Lancer's gonna kill me if I'm late to homeroom."

"No can do, Danny," Jazz answered, fixing her hair in the mirror. Danny couldn't tell what she was fixing, exactly; her hair always looked exactly the same after she was done. "I've got to pick up Spike this morning."

"Spike? Who's Spike?" Danny asked. A guy named 'Spike' didn't exactly sound like his sister's preppy crowd.

"He's a teenager in desperate need of my guidance," Jazz informed Danny. "And for that, I need to be _alone_ with him. Ask Dad for a ride."

"Dad doesn't get back his driving license until next week," Danny reminded her. "And Mom doesn't get back from that ghost convention until this afternoon. You're my last hope. Come on, I promise I'll be quiet," Danny begged, glancing at the clock.

"You should have thought of that before you overslept," Jazz sighed. "Sorry, Danny. If you leave now you'll only be a few minutes late."

Danny threw up his hands and went to protest before the obvious occurred to him. _Duh, ghost powers! I'll _fly _to school!_ "Fine, be that way," Danny snapped, stomping off through the front door in a huge huff.

However, as soon as he slammed the door shut behind him, he grinned. He'd been practicing his flying; it was impossible to go more than a few feet off the ground when he was human, but when he was a ghost, he could fly as high as he wanted. He'd also practiced turning into a ghost; Danny's greatest fear, above all others, was the thought of accidentally transforming into a ghost in front of everyone. "Goin' ghost," he said quietly, the way he did when he was warning Sam and Tucker that he was about to transform when he was practicing, and a moment later he was flying over the rooftops.

Danny loved the feeling of flying – weightlessness, the wind in his face, and the freedom of being above the world. He coasted to school, almost forgetting about his time crunch, until he got to the schoolyard where kids were milling everywhere. "Gotta find a place to land," he muttered to himself, unconsciously flying lower and lower as he searched for an isolated spot – until he crashed into a tree. "Gah!"

The surprise of the crash landing startled him into transforming back to human. He grabbed desperately at the tree branches, but he couldn't get a grip – his hands kept turning intangible, which just made him panic more, which made it harder to keep them solid. "Ah! Ah! Oh nooo—" Danny fell out of the tree, landing flat on his stomach, and the contents of his backpack spilled over the ground.

"I can tell today is going to be just _awesome_," Danny grumbled to himself, blushing as nearby students laughed at him.

&

"Yep. Today reeks," Danny glared at the red 'D' at the top of the pop quiz he'd had in Algebra. "I hate math!"

"Want me to tutor you?" Tucker asked. Math wasn't his strongest subject but he was far better at it than Danny.

"I don't think I can afford your rates," Danny grumbled, his mood black.

"Ouch. Come on, Danny, you know I wouldn't charge you for it," Tucker protested.

Danny sighed, feeling poorly for insulting his best friend. "Yeah, I know. Argh. Today just sucks, and it's barely even star—"

"Hey, look, it's Tuckerino and Fender-Bender," Dash crowed from down the hall. Danny cringed, his shoulders drawing upwards, and Tucker made a sound remarkably like a whimper. "A two-for-one special!"

Danny turned around to face his doom. Dash was clutching a piece of paper in his hand as he and Kwan cornered Tucker and Danny against the lockers. "Do you know what I got on my Algebra quiz? Huh? An 'F''! And that stands for 'Wail on Fenton Day'!"

"Okay, woah, wait a second," Danny stammered, waving his hands in front of himself. "So you only wail on me when you get an 'F'? How many classes are you failing, Dash?"

Dash glowered. "You think you're funny!? Come on, Kwan, let's see how funny Fenterina is when he's drinking toilet water!"

"Okay!" Kwan agreed. Kwan was big and strong but mostly harmless, until he was with Dash. If Dash told him to do something, he did it. "Should I bring Foley, too?"

"Sure! Think we can fit the heads of _two _nerds down the same toilet?" Dash sneered, hauling Danny up by his shirt and dragging him into the restroom.

"I dunno," Kwan shrugged, hauling a screaming Tucker in after Dash. "But it might be kind of fun to find out!"

Two minutes, several shouts of "Not the beret! _Not the beret!_", and a high-five later, Danny and Tucker had found out it was indeed possible to fit two heads down one toilet, but not nearly so easy to get them back out. They sat there uncomfortably until the sounds of laughing jocks had left the bathroom.

"Uh, are they gone?" Danny asked, trying not to breathe through his nose.

"I think so." Tucker's voice was broken.

"Okay." Danny turned himself intangible and got his head out from where it was wedged between the toilet seat and Tucker's cheek, freeing Tucker to lift his head. Toilet water dripped down their faces. "That was absolutely the most disgusting thing _ever._" Danny fisted his hands, jerking to his feet. "You okay, Tucker?"

"My beret is soaked with toilet water! How do you think I am!?" Tucker demanded.

"Wash it in the sink!" Danny suggested, glaring at the bathroom door. "Man, I just wanna – I could--!" _I could turn invisible and stuff Dash in his locker, or shove _his_ head down the toilet, or-or hang him from the flagpole by his underwear! He'd _never _know!_

"You could what?" Tucker asked, turning on the tap water at the sink and ducking his head under it. "Ugh, I dunno if that smell is ever going to go away …"

But even as Danny considered all the fantastic revenges he could use on Dash, he remembered what Sam had said the night before. _Being a hero is just doing the right thing._ And the right thing _wasn't_ getting revenge on Dash.

"Darn it," Danny groaned aloud, slumping his shoulders. He dragged himself to the sink next to Tucker to wash his hair out too.

"You could what, Danny?" Tucker asked again.

"Nothing," Danny sighed. "And that reeks, too."

"Not as badly as that toilet."

"Thanks for reminding me," Danny grumbled, gagging. "Now I think I'm gonna have to throw up, too."

_To be continued_

_Once again, thanks to all the reviewers! It's been really fun to write this. Next chapter is currently planned to be the epilogue, unless you all really want to see me rehash the entire episode of 'Mystery Meat'. Can't believe the ride is almost over._

_I will try to reply to all of you. Thank you again!_

_Anyway, cataloguing continues:_

_--Jazz 'never offers to drive Danny to school'. (Mystery Meat)_

_--Jazz drives the compact pink-purple car described up until Secret Weapons, at which point she's driving a red sports car. (I think I spotted the compact in 'The Ultimate Enemy'.)_

_--Spike is the goth kid Jazz is trying to get to have a 'breakthrough' in Mystery Meat._

_--The 'vacuum cleaner thing' Danny's father is working on is the 'Fenton Xtractor', which sucks ghosts out of humans. It's not dangerous to humans unless it gets in your hair. Since Jack has to explain to Maddie what it is, I assume this is a private project of his. (Mystery Meat)_

_And fanon:_

_"Hey, that rainstorm came out of nowhere." –just a fun suggestion that maybe Vortex, who first appeared in the third season, was running around causing havoc long before Danny had a ghost sense to know it was a ghost causing freak rainstorms._

_We have no idea where the phrase 'Going Ghost' came from, but Danny definitely says it right before he fights the Lunch Lady for the first time._

_We have no idea how Danny ended up with the superhero name 'Danny Phantom'. It doesn't pop up with a canon reference until several episodes into the series and doesn't really come into being an issue until he picks up the name 'Inviso-Bill'._


End file.
